Rescue workers remove the remains of the car bomb that destroyed the US
embassy in Nairobi on August 7, 1998. More than 200 people were killed
in the attack. PHOTO | FILE
NATION MEDIA GROUP
A survivor of 1998 bomb blast will get
Sh652.5 million ($7.5 million) as damages after he contracted HIV while
trying to rescue victims of the terrorist attack.
William Maina was digging through the rubble of the US Embassy, that had been blown apart by the terrorist bomb.
He
testified before a US court that he was working off-site at the Embassy
during the blast and rushed to the site of the bombing to help with the
rescue.
It is while helping the victims that he suffered cuts and scratches that exposed him to blood from one of them.
Mr
Maina was later diagnosed with the HIV virus that causes Aids. He
provided evidence before court proving that he did not contract the
disease elsewhere.
“Although he otherwise suffered only
minor physical injuries during the recovery efforts, HIV is a chronic,
serious and stigmatising disease requiring a lifetime of treatment,” the
US Judge John Bates observed in his ruling.
The
survivor was awarded the cash alongside his other litigant, Ms Jael
Oyoo. Ms Oyoo was pulled out of the rubble by rescuers who thought she
was dead.
She suffered burns on her body and an injury
to the right eye that severely impaired her vision. She spent two years
in hospital.
The two are among other survivors of US
Embassy bomb blast who will be compensated after suffering injuries
during the attack. However not all victims would get the compensation.
It
is only those who worked for the US Embassy together with employees of a
construction firm that Mr Maina was working for. The firm had been
hired by the embassy for some work.
Those who lost
their spouses will get as much as Sh696 million ($8 million) in
compensation. Others will pocket Sh609 million ($7 million ).
In
his ruling, Mr Bates has awarded Sh435 million ($5 million) each to
victims who suffered severe physical injuries such as fractures, soft
tissue wounds and scars from shrapnel together with severe psychological
trauma.
“Where physical and psychological pain is
more severe – such as where victims suffered relatively more numerous
and severe injuries and partially lost their vision and hearing or were
mistaken for the dead – courts have awarded upwards of $7 million
(approximately Sh609 million) and above,” Mr Bates says in a ruling in a
case filed by Milly Mikali and others.
They had sued the Republic of Sudan for the terrorists attack.
Giving
a breakdown, the judge ruled that where victims suffered emotional
injury accompanied by minor physical injuries be paid between Sh130
million to Sh261 million.
But those who endured pain for several hours would receive damages ranging from Sh87 million.
If the victim’s period of pain is less, the victim would receive less money.
For instance those who suffered pain for 10 minutes would only receive Sh43 million, Mr Bates clarified.
Victims
who lost their parents in the attack will get Sh435 million while those
who lost their siblings are to receive Sh217 million.
Families of injured victims were not left out.
A
spouse will carry home Sh348 million for the damages a wife or husband
suffered while a parent is set to get Sh217 million for his or her
injured child.
Loss of a brother or sister in the attack entitles one to Sh108 million.
Different
courts in the District of Colombia however differed on the proper award
a child is supposed to get for an injured parent.
One
court awarded such a child Sh217 million while another one settled for
Sh108 million. But the children whose parents died in the attack got
Sh609 million.
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